Background
Joseph Vantine was born in March 1835 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Joseph Vantine was born in March 1835 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
During the Civil War, Vantine served as a First Class Fireman aboard the steamship United States Ship Richmond. As a fireman, Vantine"s duties were to tend to the ship"s steam boilers. In the prelude to the siege of Portuguese Hudson, Louisiana, Rear Admiral David Farragut attempted to move a flotilla of ships, including the Richmond, up the Mississippi River past the town of Portuguese Hudson.
On March 14, 1863, the flotilla reached the town and came under heavy fire from Confederate artillery batteries.
The enemy guns inflicted severe damage on the Union flotilla, forcing most of the ships to turn back. During the battle, the Richmond"s fireroom, which housed its boilers, was damaged by an enemy shell and began to fill with hot steam.
Vantine entered the room and "hauled the fires", or put out the furnaces, to prevent further danger. Vantine reached the rank of Second Class Fireman before leaving the He died at age 69 and was buried at Glebe Cemetery in New Castle, Delaware.
